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It’s been half a year (!) with no blogging or updating due to project and dissertation work. (Hey, I got a Merit in my Masters!) I have moved back to cold, cold Norway, and I am currently looking for work. Thanks for a wonderful year, England!

A few peeks from my exhibition:

And these are some of the lovely people I’ve spent a lot of time with the past year:

Last Thursday to Friday, a very interesting and (I’d say) important event took place in Greenwich, London. No, I’m not talking about the filming of Les Misérables with (Russel Crowe and Helena Bonham Carter as lead roles why hello there! Ahem). I’m talking about the Information Design Conference 2012.

I arrived a bit late due to very inconvenient flight delays, which made me miss the wayfinding session, with, amongst others, Per Mollerup as a speaker. The following talks did not disappoint, however. These are some that I found particularly interesting:

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Information design for interaction:

Inclusive and accessible information design for self service terminals
Jenny Darzentas, University of the Aegean, Syros, Greece.
Challenges in developing the interface for SSTs (eg cash machines, self-checkouts, ticket machines, etc.). What the user is feeling and thinking often doesn’t correspond with the intentions of the designer. The designer may want the system to be engaging and absorbing – in reality users are afraid of this. They just want to get their tickets / withdraw money / whatsoever.

Data visualisation:

Seeing is believing: the comparative effects of textual vs visual presentation of the health impacts of climate change on attitudes and behavioural intentions of the UK general public
Will Stahl-Timmins, European Centre for Environment and Human Health.Will Stahl-Timmins presents of some of his work for the ECEHH: Informative graphics (I refuse the term ‘infographics’) that were undeniably intriguing, visually appealing and – above all – understandable. The work concerned communication environmental and health issues; particularly climate change

(Animated) graphics with a cause: Neurath, Rosling, and data visualisation in contemporary documentaries
Yuri Engelhardt, Ekaterina Yudin, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Yuri Engelhardt deserves credit as one of the conference’s most charismatic speaker. A gripping speech about graphics with a cause. Graphics that concern political, social, economical or environmental issues. Graphics that communicate efficiently and effectively, and clarifies. Graphics that aim to make a change attitudes and behaviour. Hans Rosling’s work today can be compared to Otto and Marie Neurath’s work in the 1930’s.

Beauty and the beast: a critique of data visualisations
Sally Bigwood, Plain Figures, Wakefield, UK.
Another very charismatic speaker. Sally Bigwood has three criteria for determining a well designed data visualisation:
(1) Does it reveal a trend/pattern?
(2) Does it organize/summarize the data?
(3) Does it communicate with ease?
Tables are often the easiest way of presenting data – the numeric table should be a default, the starting point (though this depends on the complexity of the data). Bigwood ends with a quote, which I believe should be given emphasis in the midst of the beautified infographic-wave: If your numbers are boring, don’t decorate them. Go find some numbers that are interesting!

Language and content:

Turning conscripts into revolutionaries: Introducing clear English and basic information design to a deeply resistant audience.
Abi Searle-Jones, Northants, UK
On how to communicate with underwriters, who sometimes can act like Saint George’s. Convincing them about the value of information design and a clear language. The keys in this communication are: adapt and keep adapting, respect the audience, be specific – and go easy on yourself.

Collaboration in design:

Two heads are better than one: a first-hand report on a collaborative approach to information design and sciences
Marek Kultys, Independent Designer and Researcher, London, UKMarek Kultys has collaborated with scientists, and attepmted to clarify the meiosis and mitosis processes, and ‘immunographics’.

Information design for health:

Effects of deliberately puzzling HIV and AIDS billboards in South Africa
Carel Jansen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands; Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Carel Jansen looks at various approaches to informing people about HIV and AIDS, and eventually how to change their attitudes. HIV/AIDS is still a big problem; people are not informed, or even misinformed. One goal is creating more openness: getting people to talk to each other about it.
Has fear-appeal messages worked? Teenage slang? Exemplifying approaches, like ‘Take John, for instance…’? From ‘drinking leads to irresponsible behaviour’ to ‘abuse boose, you loose’ – a mixture of various textual and graphical representations.

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The whole health-session was very interesting, IMHO. I guess I can’t write about them all I should be prioritizing my dissertation work from now on instead.

As an end note: at the conference I worked as a student helper, and me and a few classmates came up with this idea for the t-shirt:
Though mine was a bit big, neat idea, eh?

I’ve been up to loads of – in the lack of a better word – stuff. The two main projects of the term – a wayfinding system and a home reference manual – have been handed in, and we’ve just started on professional assignments. Mine has something to do with this.

To pick up a few general highlights: I’ve…

… been to a lecture with the very charismatic Ken Garland; who talked about his work in the 60’s for the CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), designers vs. non-designers work in social campaigns (refering especially to the Occupy movement), and the importance of voting. Amongst other things.

… been in London with a couple of classmates. We stayed at a super fancy hotel.

Heavily branded slippers / very classy signage. At Andaz Hotel.

We visited Greenwich to do some research / get some inspiration for yet another secretive project (ok, designing a t-shirt).

We found some rather interesting signage/pictograms. Cognitively challenging and… overdramatized?

We walked around in Brick Lane.

I’ve drawn a… motivating illustration.

I’ve realized that the two albums I’ve bought here have some interesting similarities…

And otherwise, for the last two days I’ve been enjoying the lovely weather, and (attempted) reading these twobooks.

Blog + doing an MA in Information Design + your name happens to be Kari Dahn = not many updates.

I thought I’d post some more photos from the typographic delight sessions we have every monday with ourFather Michael Twyman (he really is the father of the Information Design course!). I’m sure we haven’t seen a fraction of his whole collection yet.

These are from our first session in the autumn semester. French (letterpress) posters.

Apparently, only official documents could use plain white paper in the times before the french revolution. A smart way to filter out advertisement, don’t you think?